Pearson has to go!

[Col city fan]

You mean after the first 20 minutes of the first half and missing out the first 15 of the second? we played our best football at times during that game (especially the last 30 mins), but we were outclassed for long periods aswell. We also scored from almost every chance we made but I'll grant you that at least we made some chances!

It can't just be about the opposition playing without care and attention. Something has changed in the mindset of the players. that could be down to tactics. Whatever it is, just playing the same formation against sides that will not commit and leave huge spaces is not going to get us anywhere.

Your final sentence is exactly why Pearson has done what he has done IMO.

He saw against Stoke and Utd that we had long periods of time where we were getting over-run in the midfield. So he tried to rectify this by filling the central area with stronger, more solid players. I firmly believe that his mind-set was to try to control the middle better and to see if we could sneak a winner as the games progressed.

The problem with this is clear. I say again..all the midfielders are much of a muchness. James, Drinky, Cambiasso, Hammond are all ball-winners, but none are particularly creative. People go on about Cambiasso being able to ping the ball about...but he's no Pirlo. Sure, he's got a good pass on him, but he doesn't dictate play with a wand of a right boot like Pirlo does. Cambiasso's game, for years, has been like a Mascherano.. a determined, tough DM, sitting off the back four to spoil..he's a spoiler, not a creator.

SO, Pearson's need to create a more solid midfield has resulted in a real lack of creativity going forward. We may concede fewer goals, but won't score enough either.

Where does he go from here? Well, I really dunno...with the players we have at our disposal, I can't see us doing much better.

Forget the Utd game..freak result that comes about every so often. The key game, for me, was the Stoke one..where we were completely over-run and Pearson knew it.

I think he HAS a plan, for this reason, which may take time to develop.

[Guest]

I like our midfield - it was being overrun now it's not. We need to adjust slightly - pass forward not backwards. Problem for me is getting Mahrez on the pitch. That's a necessity but not at the expense of being overrun in midfeild again. That means Nuge or Vardy have to be dropped. I love them both, their workrate is fantastic but in the end we need them to put the ball in the net in order to stay in the team.

[suffolk fox]

I've been offline for a few days and only just come across this thread. I did wonder how long it would take the wankers to come out of the woodwork: I thought it would be around the end of October, so I wasn't far out. The same dumb cvnts (or clones thereof) were calling for Pearson to go at the end of the 2012-2013 season when we finished higher in the second tier than we had in any of the previous ten seasons (apart from the season in the Championship when Pearson was our manager first time round). Or the same fvcking no-nothing morons who were calling for his head at the start of last season, when he started the Middlesbrough game with Drinkwater and Vardy. Sure, everyone has a right to their opinion. And sure, everyone has the right to be a complete twat. But there's no need to abuse the privilege.

 

Anyone who thought we were going to p!ss all over this division, having spent ten years out of it, needs their head examining. It was always going to be tough, but we've not made a bad fist of it. We've played badly in maybe two games, but we've fought to the end in all of them, and we have no been outclassed. I am convinced that we will stay up, but even if we don't, Pearson is definitely the man to bring us straight back up. Nigel Pearson is, quite simply, the best manager this club has had since O'Neill - and he might even be better than O'Neill. Anyone who doesn't believe that should look at the statistics.

Its a pity you didn't stay off with the language you use? Here we go again, another one who thinks that if you dont agree with the majority re Pearson, than you are truly deluded or a see you next Tuesday. If you genuinely believe we have played badly in only two games than you haven't been watching us? Living in Southern France I would suggest this is the case?

Finally to suggest Pearson maybe better than O'Neil really is laughable.

Like many you have fallen into the same trap. Martin O'Neil did most if not all of success whilst we were in the premier league. For the record thats three top ten finishes and two league cups (3 finals losing one).

Until Nigel Pearson has that sort of record he is not even on the same level.

You will now come back with win percentages and stats to prove otherwise, but that was all in the championship and league one a far cry from the premier league.

Nigel Pearson I hope and pray could go on to become a great manager at premier league level. A lot of people who have faith in him are saying, "give him time, he is learning at this level etc, etc". Thing is unlike previous seasons when we have been on a bad run you can get away with a lot ie scraped into play offs in sixth after not winning for something like 18 games? In the premier league you just dont get the time?

At the end of the day if you did watch us regularly you would see we are creating naff all in chances, setting up not too lose instead of at least going for it, playing no wingers,, players i.e. Ulloa isolated up front on his own. It certainly, isnt pretty to watch.

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

Fans bemoan lack of loyalty in the sport, take a look at yourselves.

Is football still a sport, in the real sense? NO, it is not. It is a massive business, and that leaves no room for loyalty or sentiment. This is the hard fact, whether we like it or not.

 

If you owned a large business, and your sales dropped off, what would you do? I am certain you would be looking at your sales manager, with regard to replacing him. You wouldn't say he was such a nice fella that you couldn't dismiss him.

 

"To bemoan lack of loyalty" just does not come into the equation.  

 

We are Leicester City, a business!

[inckley fox]

Is football still a sport, in the real sense? NO, it is not. It is a massive business, and that leaves no room for loyalty or sentiment. This is the hard fact, whether we like it or not.

 

If you owned a large business, and your sales dropped off, what would you do? I am certain you would be looking at your sales manager, with regard to replacing him. You wouldn't say he was such a nice fella that you couldn't dismiss him.

 

"To bemoan lack of loyalty" just does not come into the equation.  

 

We are Leicester City, a business!

 

I am loyal, but I'm loyal to Leicester City. Would it make a Labour Party supporter a bad socialist if he though Ed Miliband was rubbish? I just happen to think Nigel Pearson is a good manager. It's for the board to be loyal to him.

[inckley fox]

This stat is pretty meaningless unless you provide the total number of clubs who sacked their managers in the same period. It’s 16. And, bear in mind that this includes Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham sacking their managers.  I would hope you’d agree that these sides were in no danger of relegation anyway, and therefore don't count. So that leaves 12 sackings in the period that you have defined. Four got relegated. That’s 33%.

 

As I keep saying, only 3 clubs can get relegated. 15%. But, in the interests of fairness,  if we ignore the big clubs (say top 7?) that’s a 3 from 13 chance of being relegated: 23%.

 

For clubs who sack their managers before the end of Winter, this increases to 33%.

 

Conclusion: Clubs who sack their managers before the end of January increase their chances of being relegated by 10%

 

Boom!  

 

 

If we widen the sample to include clubs as high as 7th, we are no longer looking at teams who were in a position comparable to ourselves at the moment.

 

And the real problem with your interpretation is that a club on the brink of the relegation zone is (a) more likely to change managers than a club in 7th, 8th, or 9th place and (b) much more likely to be relegated (a club in 20th place in October as, say, Palace were when Pulis took over, have a much higher chance - much more than 10% higher - of going down than a club like Tottenham who were knocking around 7th place in the October-November time - but in your interpretation the two are on a level pegging).

 

This is why I stipulated bottom six.

 

Either way, we are coming to two sides of the same conclusion. Namely, that there is no conclusion to be drawn. There is no clear-cut proof that you are better off changing managers, but neither is their any clear-cut proof that getting rid of your manager clearly increases your risk of going down. So much depends on the manager you're getting rid of, and the one you're bringing in.

 

On balance, and I suspect this is your argument too, I'd say the safer bet is sticking with Nigel Pearson. Unlike many of those managers successfully fired, the squad has been largely forged in his own image, and over a period of years. His knowledge of them, and relationship with them, will be tighter than that enjoyed by Holloway et al. He needs longer.

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

I am loyal, but I'm loyal to Leicester City. Would it make a Labour Party supporter a bad socialist if he though Ed Miliband was rubbish? I just happen to think Nigel Pearson is a good manager. It's for the board to be loyal to him.

"...it's for the Board to be loyal to him" Utter rubbish! Loyalty doesn't come into it. It's up to the board to do what they think is in the best interests of the club, (business), which is what I said in the first place.

[AnotherShitSeason]

Keep the faith! 

[theessexfox]

[Stadt]

Keep the faith!

Not sure if serious

[hamptonfox]

I am in agreement with those that know what a hugely impressive performance last season was, and that Pearson presided over it, with a calming influence.

 

I was surprised more wasn't spent in the summer, and the fact that we were left begging for Ulloa and Cambiasso to be signed, left a bad taste in the run up to the season.

 

Upson and Albrighton were swiftly recruited, impact nil so far.

 

The work we did around deadline day seems to have come up short, Powell, Simpson etc, impact nil so far.

 

Basically looking at our core team, its possible to say that its weaker than last year.

 

Back 4 and Keeper the same (Full Backs suffering at this level).

 

Centre Midfield - James, King, Hammond, Drinkwater, Cambiasso (the latter added, onfield impact limited so far). 

 

Wide Midfleld; Dyer gone/Albrighton in. Knockaert and Mahrez little used, as we bulk up centre-mid (overall a substantially weaker, slower width to the team).

 

Forwards: High initial impact from Ulloa, when ball moved quickly from back to front, often when Mahrez and/or Vardy involved.  (Vardy needs to work better with Ulloa to measure improvement here).

 

NP's measured response to wins or loses looks great when we are winning, but looks like he is clueless when we are losing, failing to score, and unable to keep a clean sheet.

 

He needs to work out the width, and pace of attacks, and support to forwards, and to articulate this in a way that shows a deeper understanding of the problems, that his team are failing to deal with.

 

Some of it is selection and set-up of the team, and that's on him, and that will only go away with improved results, and clearer, better post-match game-assessment.

 

 

[inckley fox]

"...it's for the Board to be loyal to him" Utter rubbish! Loyalty doesn't come into it. It's up to the board to do what they think is in the best interests of the club, (business), which is what I said in the first place.

 

I'm not saying they should feel any creeping sense of loyalty to him, just that whether we are loyal or not doesn't especially matter, whereas whether the board is does matter (Ashley, for instance, was a personal friend of Pardew's before he appointed him, and I'd argue he's shown a degree of loyalty since then). If fans support their team, cheer them on, but don't like their manager then they can still be perfectly good fans.

 

I don't see that fans are meant to be loyal to their managers, regardless of how good they are. When O'Neill walked out we didn't start traipsing up to Scotland to cheer him on, or even watching the SPL any more often than we did before.

 

On top of that, there have been plenty of occasions when, with the benefit of hindsight, those calling for the boss to be fired were either most probably in the right (e.g. Sven in May 2011, Adams in May 2004, Kelly in spring 2007, Holloway in January 2008, Levein in January 2006) or definitely in the right (Taylor in spring 2001). Loyalty towards the manager, again, is not preferable by fault.

[cc_star]

Is he still here? Zero points again yesterday. Surely now is the time to tempt Fergie out of retirement, Ancelotti from Madrid or Guardiola from Bayern... We're the massive Leicester City & we're entitled

[5waller5]

I am in agreement with those that know what a hugely impressive performance last season was, and that Pearson presided over it, with a calming influence.

 

I was surprised more wasn't spent in the summer, and the fact that we were left begging for Ulloa and Cambiasso to be signed, left a bad taste in the run up to the season.

 

Upson and Albrighton were swiftly recruited, impact nil so far.

 

The work we did around deadline day seems to have come up short, Powell, Simpson etc, impact nil so far.

 

Basically looking at our core team, its possible to say that its weaker than last year.

 

Back 4 and Keeper the same (Full Backs suffering at this level).

 

Centre Midfield - James, King, Hammond, Drinkwater, Cambiasso (the latter added, onfield impact limited so far). 

 

Wide Midfleld; Dyer gone/Albrighton in. Knockaert and Mahrez little used, as we bulk up centre-mid (overall a substantially weaker, slower width to the team).

 

Forwards: High initial impact from Ulloa, when ball moved quickly from back to front, often when Mahrez and/or Vardy involved.  (Vardy needs to work better with Ulloa to measure improvement here).

 

NP's measured response to wins or loses looks great when we are winning, but looks like he is clueless when we are losing, failing to score, and unable to keep a clean sheet.

 

He needs to work out the width, and pace of attacks, and support to forwards, and to articulate this in a way that shows a deeper understanding of the problems, that his team are failing to deal with.

 

Some of it is selection and set-up of the team, and that's on him, and that will only go away with improved results, and clearer, better post-match game-assessment.

 

That's a very good post ... agree entirely.

I'm not saying they should feel any creeping sense of loyalty to him, just that whether we are loyal or not doesn't especially matter, whereas whether the board is does matter (Ashley, for instance, was a personal friend of Pardew's before he appointed him, and I'd argue he's shown a degree of loyalty since then). If fans support their team, cheer them on, but don't like their manager then they can still be perfectly good fans.

 

I don't see that fans are meant to be loyal to their managers, regardless of how good they are. When O'Neill walked out we didn't start traipsing up to Scotland to cheer him on, or even watching the SPL any more often than we did before.

 

On top of that, there have been plenty of occasions when, with the benefit of hindsight, those calling for the boss to be fired were either most probably in the right (e.g. Sven in May 2011, Adams in May 2004, Kelly in spring 2007, Holloway in January 2008, Levein in January 2006) or definitely in the right (Taylor in spring 2001). Loyalty towards the manager, again, is not preferable by fault.

 

And if rumours are to be believed Pardew owes Ashley £2m - which may afford him some more loyalty!!

[5waller5]

The way I see it at the minute is that if we were manager-less and NP was available .... We'd probably see him as the strongest candidate for the job.

 

So happily he already has the job!!

[Col city fan]

I wonder what the feeling will be if we play poorly and lose again on Saturday?

Personally, I think we'll win. But it will be interesting if we don't.

[foxfanazer]

I wonder what the feeling will be if we play poorly and lose again on Saturday?

Personally, I think we'll win. But it will be interesting if we don't.

I think if we lose the next 2 he could be in serious trouble. Hope I'm wrong though and think we'll get 4 points from those two games

[PatrykJ14]

Definitely we need 3points on Saturday.!!!

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

If we cannot beat Sunderland on Saturday, it will be horrific. This has to be one of the three easiest games of the season for us, and to not win will be a farce. We really do need six points from the next three games.

[MC Prussian]

If we cannot beat Sunderland on Saturday, it will be horrific. This has to be one of the three easiest games of the season for us, and to not win will be a farce. We really do need six points from the next three games.

I'm curious to know how you come to this final conclusion.

 

Easy in what regard? Easy for some fans to predict they want a defeat so they can fire some more arrows in the direction of the manager (whom they've never warmed up to in the first place)?

 

You're moving on "I told you so" ground. Too easy.

[foxinsocks]

The recent away trips were tough; and WBA showed us how the points can be nicked in the PL (fair play to them). I expect Nigel has seen that an obsession with controlling midfield lead him to lacking creativity (and thus 0:0 was the best he could hope for). Indeed, in many games in the PL and in the recent world cup the team that won was the team with the least possession - sucking in the opposition and then breaking fast. At home we need to stop playing header tennis in the first 10 minutes.. get it on the floor... and then play with some confidence. We must feed vardy and mahrez. Ulloa must play to make sense of the crosses - we should cross early and diagonally while their backs are back tracking. Nugent and King on the bench for me.

This is a big leaning curve for Pearson and the coaches - we are no way one of the worst three teams. C'mon let's beat Sunderland on Saturday - QPR look much more of a handful - Vargas and Austin are on great form - so we will need to create 6 chances and score 3 goals.

[Col city fan]

The recent away trips were tough; and WBA showed us how the points can be nicked in the PL (fair play to them). I expect Nigel has seen that an obsession with controlling midfield lead him to lacking creativity (and thus 0:0 was the best he could hope for). Indeed, in many games in the PL and in the recent world cup the team that won was the team with the least possession - sucking in the opposition and then breaking fast. At home we need to stop playing header tennis in the first 10 minutes.. get it on the floor... and then play with some confidence. We must feed vardy and mahrez. Ulloa must play to make sense of the crosses - we should cross early and diagonally while their backs are back tracking. Nugent and King on the bench for me.

This is a big leaning curve for Pearson and the coaches - we are no way one of the worst three teams. C'mon let's beat Sunderland on Saturday - QPR look much more of a handful - Vargas and Austin are on great form - so we will need to create 6 chances and score 3 goals.

Great post...

[Col city fan]

I think all this stuff about Pearson not being able to manage big names, falling out with players, being stubborn etc etc etc is all mere speculation.. That's really all it is. He's a person like the rest of us, he'll have his strengths and he'll have his weaknesses.

What is fact, for me, is this: football, and especially top flight football is a cut-throat world. It's business. End of. Goals are generally short-term, contracts mean diddly squit and loyalty to anything and anyone about went by the wayside when Stevie Walsh finally hung-up his boots.

Pearson must learn and learn very quickly, want it takes to be a Premiership manager. He must have the ability to learn this.

If not, I think he'll be gone, and all the speculation, conjecture and rumour will begin once more. I don't want that. Fundamentally, I like Pearson, he's brought success to my club and I hope he now has the ability to turn around this slump. And stay.

[foxinsocks]

yes he must learn! The lessons are expensive. Species that adapt win out – those that can’t respond to their challenges become extinct. It’s now time for NP to show he can adapt.

[Col city fan]

yes he must learn! The lessons are expensive. Species that adapt win out – those that can’t respond to their challenges become extinct. It’s now time for NP to show he can adapt.

Yes it is..actually that's about the bottom line.